Ruhengeri and Uganda

Hopefully you saw the pics on facebook- and I think that basically gives the gist of my Easter weekend… I had decided to splurge for a permit to see the gorillas! I figured I was here, was able to get it half price because of my long term visa, the cost was going up in May, and they are endangered. So I bought my permit and planned my trip up to Ruhengeri. Although just by distance it is not that far because of the condition of the roads it becomes quite the journey. It can be anywhere from 5-7 hours from Kibogora to Kigali and then Ruhengeri is another 2 hours from there. Not bad but you can also be waiting for buses to come or leave. So Thursday was a long day of buses but luckily I got window seats every time! And didn’t have to sit on those terrible fold down jump seats. I left Kibogora at 6:30 or so and got to the Kigali bus park around noon. It was cool when we pulled in there were a bunch of Massai men in the bus station. They’re a nomadic (ish?) tribe from Kenya/Tanzania and dress very different (more traditionally) than the people in Kigali so it was really interesting to see them. (Google it) I really wanted to take out my camera because I’ve never seen anything like it- even here! But the Nyamirambo bus area is probably one of the craziest places in Kigali so I chose not to.

Luckily I found a bus leaving in just 15 minutes for Ruhengeri- so I bought that ticket. It was a tiny little white bus and just as I got settled in to the coveted front seat I saw a nice big modern bus pull away with a flashing sign ‘Kigali-Ruhengeri’. So maybe my bus wasn’t the best but I did have the front seat. (I ended up taking one of the big fancy buses on my return trip and it was a bit faster but my little bus was nice). I had some funny French-English-Kinyarwanda mixed melanged conversations with some people on the bus. It’s pretty entertaining sometimes to try and communicate. These people loved that I was American which was cool though maybe they would have said the same thing about any country I said. I don’t know. We did a group fist pump to Obama though.

So I eventually made it to Ruhengeri and took a moto to my little ‘hostel’. I thought it was a hostel but really it seems like someone built some rooms behind their house and is renting them out- there’s not sign outside and my moto driver had no idea what place I was talking about when I said ‘Amahoro Guesthouse’ and he took me instead to a bar called ‘Giramahoro’… wasn’t planning on sleeping in a bar (I had a big day on Friday– otherwaise maybe I would have considered it) so I called the guest house and got it all sorted out. It would have been fine with it had I just known that the ‘guest house’ wasn’t a well known place and I would have to instead tell people to go to the resturaunt across the street for anyone to know what I was talking about. No big. I made it and the room was more than adequate and I had my own little water heater. Nice. I was a bit tired from all the buses so I went to a local bakery bought myself what turned out to be an odd personal pizza (cheese mushroom and hard boiled egg) and settled in for some reading and rest.

The next day started at 5 since my driver was coming before 6 to take me to the meeting area for all the people going to the gorillas that day. I was really excited so waking up wasn’t difficult and luckily I had some leftover pizza to continue   carbo loading for the trek. My driver, Francis, showed up on time and we we’re off to the park entrance. The meeting was mostly waiting around on the part of the visitors but a lot of organzing and arranging on the part of the guides. All the people need to be divided into groups- each group going to visit a different group of gorillas. I had wanted to visit the Susa group for several reasons. It is supposed to be a difficult hike to get to them. They are the biggest group- including 3 silverbacks. And finally it is the group that Diane Fossy studied. But in order to go see them (or any particular group) you have to go ask the guides. And that’s what I did- the guides were kinda funny about it. They were joking about one of the guides and they called him ‘big man’ in kinyarwanda, saying that he couldn’t manage the trek up there because he was too fat. Guess who ended up being my guide for the day? Yep, ‘Big Man’ whose real name turned out to be Oliver.

First a side note– It was cold and a little rainy and this group of traditional dancers came out to greet the group and perform. It was nice- they sang and danced (a little strange at times because some had huge grins plastered really fake on their faces the whole time… not the point). So after they had a little basket out for donations and no one got up to give them a little donation. There were easily 80 + people there who had each just shelled out hundreds of dollars at least for this trip and they couldn’t give one dollar to the dancers that danced in the rain for them! I went and gave a little and then 2 other people did. only 3 people out of 80!

The drive out to where we started the hike was another hour but at least they gave us hot tea at the meeting. So Francis and the other people in my group (with their own cars/drivers) made the drive over to our base. For a bit we were on paved roads but then turned off the pavement and were on this road that was just big rocks up a mountain for maybe 30-40 minutes. We got to the car park- organized ourselves, got some nice gorilla carved walking sticks and just started walking straight up up up this mountain. Our pace wasn’t bad but the incline was a little tough. We were mostly hiking along pastures or potato fields. It was a beautiful view. There were these two girls in the group and they were having a rough time though. At one point one said ‘Ugh- best antismoking advert ever’.

But we all eventually made it to the edge of the forest where we got out final instructions.  1. NO eating, drinking, urinating or defecating in the presence of the gorillas 2. No smoking in the forest 3. We have guns in case of mountain elephants or buffalo, we can scare them 4. If the gorilla charges I will tell you what he wants and what to do. It was an interesting set of directions for sure.

I was really hoping for a challenging hike into the forest, and for 20 minutes we had one. It was no longer a steep ascent but it was definitely jungle. Ducking hanging vines following a machete weilding guide down a path of sorts. The we stopped and met our trackers. We left our packs with them and kept walking… all of a sudden I started to hear large branches snapping (no longer the result of our guides machete)… then some dark movement at the top of this cluster of bamboo- it was furry!! I don’nt know how the gorilla got up there or how the bamboo was supporting this not small gorilla up top but it was really cool. I just stood there stuck to the ground watching it rummage among the bamboo tops. The group mostly had moved on so I followed after the awe wore off a little. But then as I cam around a bend in the path a small clearing opened up with several gorillas just right there. There was a mom and baby off to the side and a couple youngsters AND, though not visisble at first there was a GIANT silverback laying face down sleeping in the middle. Every now and then he would let out some strange noises and eventually he got up– it was amazing. I knew these guys would be big but good lord! He was huge! According to our guide they can weigh >300 kilos (700+ lbs) big (but wikipedia now tells me only 590 lbs… either they’re huge!) But very peaceful (mostly) just sitting, grooming each other, eating, playing a little. After a few minutes the mist turned to rain and the #1 Silverback (in this group there are 3!!) made some grunts. The guides said that the grunts meant ‘hey guys lets get out of the rain’. I’m not sure if the guides were really interpretting the grunts or maybe just the circumstance… but the group got up one by one and they were off to find some shelter in the forest. I was a little worried that we wouldn’t really get too much more time with them – I thought they would really hide in the dense forest where you couldn’t see at all. But luckily they just each found their own area of bamboo and were just eating and resting and it was cool to see them in the forest.

This big silver back was walking around pulling bamboo straight up out of the ground and eating it. That was cool to see how strong they are. Then he sat and ate it for a bit. Our guide Oliver, me and this other guy sidled up pretty close and were taking some pictures may 3 yards away. Everything was fine the gorilla was calm just munching on bamboo but then he looked at us and started to grunt. The guide was grunting back and I was thinking ‘O this is cool- they’re talking’ Well I don’t think their talk was going so well because the gorilla got up, faced us, (I’m thinking ‘great pictures!!!’) then he charged! Running straight for us. Oliver stepped in front of me and the other guy putting his arms out to the sides and grunting while somehow also simultaneously urging us to ‘step back STEP BACK’. Well I’m sure it all only lasted a second but it felt like forever. The gorilla came pretty close but then changed his mind and turned and trotted off to the side. One of the scariest moments of my life- but Oliver says he was just playing. Oliver said that he put his arms out to make himself look intimidating and his grunts meant ‘I’m big, I’m strong’ and that was it- we were saved! I don’t know if he was playing, but I don’t really want to play with that one, thanks.

After a few more minutes in the forest they began to move back out into the clearings. It was awesome because we were in the clearing with a group but you could hear from branches snapping and grunts that there were still many gorillas surrounding us in the forest! Then as I was taking a video of the group i heard louder noises just off to my right- I turned just as this mom came out of the trees with a baby on her back. It was amazing!

To make an amazing weekend even better when I got back to town I caught a bus to the Ugandan boarder (turned out to be an adventure of its own) to go to visit Bonnie!! Turns out the town the Einstein students go to work in is 10 km over the boarder! So over to Kisoro I went for a mini Einstein reunion. It was awesome to see Bonnie and even though she wasn’t feeling awesome we totally slow mo ran to greet each other. LOVE.

Could have been the best Easter weekend ever (even though I had no chocolate 😀 )

:pics on facebook– more trouble uploading:     http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=3703116&ref=tn_tnmn#!/media/set/?set=a.757015063618.2167246.3703116&type=3

Kibuye– moto trip, sun and swimming

So—in an attempt to be a better blogger I will recap our moto trip weekend… (from few weeks ago-eik)

I don’t know if I mentioned previously that I have a rommate (or housemate) now! Her name is Edi, she is a German nurse and previously lived here for 3 years. She is really fun and while she was here before she also started learning how to drive a moto. Perfect set up for a road trip. Having just started driving myself, and she hasn’t practised in a while (and the road is more of a trail or path) we weren’t going to drive just by ourselves and luckily we have two friends who wanted to split the driving with us. So that rounded out the group with me, Edi, Edson, and Jean Paul. We had very official tongue in cheek meetings to plan the trip which was also fun.

Anyways we started out on a bright sunny beautiful Saturday morning; a 4 hour drive ahead of us but we had planned a  stop at an orphanage just for a quick visit to break up the drive. The drive was beautiful, the road, though rutted and rocky follows along the hills with spectacular views of the lakeshore. After a particularly rough patch of road Edson and I switched places and I got the drive- awesome! Maybe after an hour or so the bright blue and sunny skies gave way to darkening clouds. Edson urged me to drive faster to ‘outrun’ the looming storm. An easy thing to say but the road is really terrible AND has blind curves AND people in an effort to avoid HUGE potholes and big rocks don’t really follow the whole drive on your side of the road thing. So I drove a bit faster anyways but was scared. Then it started to sprinkle and then it started to pour. Torrential downpour. UGH. So we eventually come upon some buildings on the side of the road and we pull over for some shelter. Quickly we’re surrounded by children who are naturally curious about foreigners but I think even more so when they see a white girl driving a moto. (Its not that common for women to drive here in general). So Jean Paul and I are soaked since we were driving but Edson and Edi are almost dry! I wrung out my sweater but I was so soaked- the kids thought it was pretty funny. We waited for a bit and the rain eventually subsided. So we were back on the road. It was a bit drizzly for a while but it stopped eventually. (On a side note-It was only 8 in the morning when it poured and since I have been here it has never rained like that in the morning… afraid that somehow this upcoming rainy season is going to be worse than the fall rains!)

We made it to the orphanage in Muganero. It was started in 1994 after the war and has continued to today. The guy that runs it is very very enthusiastic but gave a good tour. He is all about making the place self sustaining which is great in theory but he was a bit disparaging about other organizations that don’t try to do this. He even said Kibogora Hospital could be independent of donors or government support. When I said that I don’t think its possible for a hospital to do so he wasn’t really happy with me. Ok- Aim high my friend.

We didn’t really get to spend time with the kids as they were mostly at church in the beginning, the area being predominantly Seventh Day Adventist. But as they were coming back they were singing and seemed pretty happy. Finally at the end of our tour/visit my pants were completely dry! Victory.

Then we were back on the road with a standing invitation to come back and stay, work, live anytime for as long as we wanted! With just an hour to go I was getting pretty excited for our weekend. We had big plans: swimming to this island, teaching Edson how to swim, relaxing, reading, maybe even going to the one ‘club’ that plays music later at night to dance. Coming from the village this is a ‘big plan’. Just after Jean Paul tells me we’re almost there the sky begins to darken yet again and we pick up the pace once more attempting to out run the rain.

Then- luxury! As the bumpy rocky dirt road was paved. It was a bit unexpected because we were still seemingly in the middle of no where and then there was one tall building in the distance and voila! We had made it to Kibuye. We quickly drove to our hotel, Hotel Bethany. We came around a bend in the road and we were then driving parallel to the lakeshore. Jean Paul points to this stucco colored set of buildings on its own penninsula off in the distance and he says this is Hotel Bethany. I didn’t believe him because it looked way out of our price range. Low little bungalow style stuccoed buildings right along the lakeshore- but sure enough that’s where we drove to! We rushed inside as it had already started to rain again, checked in, got our rooms. The rooms on the inside were nothing special, almost like a hostel but the grounds and the outside of the buildings were beautiful! Nice gardens, a restaurant right on the water, really nice views. The country all along the lake is so beautiful, the water is clean and all the hills are green, its great to wake up right on the lakeshore with that as the view outside your door.

It rained a little more then stopped so we drove out to where Jean Paul went to his first year of nursing school and he gave us a little tour. I would have loved to go to school there. The entire campus is right on the lakeshore and he said he went swimming all the time.

Anyways- at some point I had realized I had forgotten my bathing suit. Woops, but I figured in a town that functions as one of the capitals big weekending places there would have to be a place where I could buy one. Alas- that turned out to be its own adventure as we rumaged through all kinds of shops, even used clothing stores, to find something I could swim in. Of course as we were searching it started raining again, but I eventually settled with a pair of shorts and a tank top. Passing on this bubble gum pink and baby blue boy shorts and sports bra-ish type get up… still not sure if that was meant to be underwear or what. But I thought it was likely to go see through with the water. This rain never really let up from late afternoon untill about 11 pm. We just hung out in our rooms and then had a late dinner. Which although advertised to feed 3-4 people turned out to be a huge pot with an entire chicken, potatoes, carrots, onions, and this heavy stew. It was really delicious but an enormous  amount of food. I always feel bad wasting food, especially meat here so I was trying to get everyone to have more. By the end, I think we were all stuffed and completely worn out from the day so we headed off to bed.

The next morning looked promising. We went to brunch at the hotel and got a table in the sun right on the water. Even though the rooms themselves weren’t great (and I’m pretty sure there were fleas in my bed) I just kept thinking that I could never afford to stay at a place like this at home. So our plan was to go swimming in the morning and then start our drive home, but our plan didn’t really work out as the dark clouds again rolled in after breakfast. We decided just to leave and again try to out smart or out run the rain. We had some small issues leaving though as one of the bikes wouldn’t start. After maybe an hour or so it was all fixed up. Luckily we had Edson, our trusty mechanic to figure out that all we needed was a new spark plug!

So off we went… we drove straight through this time and only got rained on a little. We made really good time though made it back to Kumbya in 3 hours or so. It was pretty good weather by the time we got back in our neck of the woods wo we went swimming at Kumbya (the swimming place maybe 10 minute drive from Kibogora). It’s pretty funny that we planned this trip drove so many hours, stayed in a hotel, just to drive back to our own backyard to swim. But I did get to put my new swimming outfit to use! It’s much more appropriate here than my bikini anyways. Surprisingly though its not the bikini that makes it scandalous but its seeing so much leg. Basically: legs here are sexual whereas the top half is functional (breast feeding in puclic is totally fine but showing above the knee or even the shape of the leg is not really).

So that was our ‘beach’ weekend… Not so much swimming but a lot of water anyways. Luckily we had a really good group of people that took it all in stride 😀

So I’ve been a bad blogger– Goat Party

Don’t really have any really good excuses but I have seriously been slacking (but only in the blog dept!). I leave Kibogora in less than 2 weeks now so the pressure has been on lately to finish my work… but I think I’v ehad time but I’ve spent it instead having adventures…

So to briefly recap- we took a weekend motorcycle trip to this lakeside town, had a tour of a tea factory, went gorilla tracking, visited Bonnie and some Einstein folks in Uganda, and had a small celebration (goat related) more details to come….

So maybe gorillas will be the finale and i will start with the goat project (pics on facebook).

The secretary of the hospital, Abraham, is fom a slightly remote very small village. There are many families with very meagre income since they mostly only have subsitence farming and sell what little they can spare to pay for other things. So he has started a committee that tries to find ways to improve the lives of vulnerable people, particularly widows and families in poverty with many children. One of the projects is  bee keeping and there was a Canadian guy here training people to bee keep (also got to try my hand at that a while back which was pretty fun but scarier than I thought bc Abraham told me they were African killer bees). Another activity is called ‘One Goat, One Family’ an effort to give a goat as a source of income (fertilizer, selling babies, etc) to families in need. The goats given are females so that when they have babies the first goes to another family and then the second the family gets to keep or sell. This can help pay for school fees for the children, new clothes, better food, or anything. After telling my mom about the project word got around and we were able to buy 6 goats for the project! and some of the left over money went to bee keeping. Our idea was to buy many goats but there aren’t always so many healthy ‘good quality’ goats at the market at one time.

So one weekend I was going to visit the goats and the Bitega community with Abraham. My idea was to visit people at their home take some pictures and that would be that. Then Abraham asked if I wanted to join him at the Bitega church before. His mom is a pastor there and I think the whole committee of people involved with the projects are all part of the congregation. I of course agreed. When we showed up at church, after maybe 45 minute moto ride back into the hills, I slowly start to realize my plan isn’t the same as everyone elses. All the goats have been brought to the church and everyone is dressed up. We take some pictures before church and then as Abraham and I walk in to church he leads me up to the front of the church to sit with the pastors… I tried to zig or zag and sit on the pews but it wasn’t going to happen. So I’m up there in a place of honor and I have to introduce myself (which I did in Kinyarwanda– gave a brief brief summary of what I’m doing here). Then they talk about the goat program and how I’m nor a parent of the church and then I have to make another speech– well having used up all my Kinyarwanda skills in the first one this one had to be in English but Abraham translated. I just said a little about the work I’m doing here and I thought that was that. They got on with the sermon and then there was a ton of singing and dancing which was awesome. THEN when I finally thought I was safe I hear the preacher start to talk about how I’m such a good caring doctor- and I’m wondering ‘why are they back to me again’? Then they ask anyone who is sick to come up to the front and they hand me the microphone and ask me to pray for the sick in the congregation. I hate public speaking and I’m not sure I have the special doctor channel to God yet… seeing as I’m not even a doctor. It was nerve racking but also felt like a real honor to be asked to pray for everyone.

So there’s some more singing but then church is over and now I think its goat time– not yet. Everyone else leaves but the pastors and the committee stay and big plates of food start to be brought in. They had a really big meal to thank me and my family and friends for our contribution to the project. And of course in Rwandan tradition we each had to make a speech again. It was all a bit unexpected but felt like a small effort from a few people can really make a big difference even if just to a few people. I was a little dissappointed that we didn’t get to go to each persons house and see the family that the goats got but I think this is more the way they like to do things here. For them its better to have a special church day maybe. But people said some really nice things and Abraham will be sending me periodic reports and updates on our goats! I hope to continue to be part of the project — maybe buying a goat every so often. So if anyone else is interested let me know!!

ps Sorry couldn’t get pics to post here– see facebook!

Frustrations and fun times

One of the teachers at the school left quite abruptly last week. So abrupt was his departure that I found out he was going on his last day- and I was a little offended since he never even told me he was going but I only heard it through the grapevine. Luckily one teacher is very very helpful and helped me to rearrange the entire schedule. Not the easiest thing- its like a frustrating puzzle. (There’s a picture on facebook of how they work out the overall schedule- basically a huge chalk board grid to block out each class/ color coded for subject and numerical codes teachers) So that was a bummer and I had to reign in my attitude because a large part of me wanted to call the teacher and confront him about leaving with no notice and no apology…. but I thought better of it and refrained.

Luckily I had a supply of chocolate to console me… I gave money to one of the visitors that just left and she sent chocolate back with the driver. Its funny the lengths I will go to to get chocolate- but its really my one and only vice here.

Another trouble is that the rainy season is starting up again- I completely took for granted the independence from most weather we have at home. If it’s raining you just use an umbrella- but in trying to take 50 students on a 20 minute walk to the health center on a mud road in the rain is just not going to happen. Hence we we’re rained out twice in three days

But it’s not all rain clouds…I am learning to drive a motorcycle! It is so much fun! (Some flashbacks to moped adventures with Nicole, Bonnie and Steph in Panama but luckily no crashes…. yet) Umwariumu wanje (my teacher) is a so funny, we use his moto to learn on and he seemed to have no reservations about letting me drive it. I would be nervous if I were him! Anyways, there are a few downsides to learning out here. For one the roads are bad. They are rutted, rocky, muddy, and the bridges are quite scary too. On top of all that there are tons of blind corners and people don’t stay on their side of the road! But since there is very little traffic its not so bad and I only have a small panic attack at each corner. There is one bridge that was recently washed away in a rain… it was half repaired and is now a few large logs running lengthwise with some large gaps in between. I refused to drive over it both going and coming back so we switched drivers before and after the bridge. I am sure the people around thought we were really strange, but there was no way I was driving over that!

So the other day we started out kinda late for our lesson and as we had made it out quite aways I realize its starting to get dark. So we turn around, but I stall as I’m turning (too many things so think about– balance, gas, clutch, the hill, the crowd of children that came to the road to watch this white girl driving a moto etc). I absolutely cannot get the thing kick started again (and the crowd grows) so Edson starts it, but I stall it again (and more people gather) so Edson starts it again and I stalled it again (stupid first gear!! letting out the clutch too fast! on a hill! and people are coming up the road/down the road out of fields out of houses to watch) Edson kick starts the bike again and good god above I stalled it again. Edson tells the people to leave and they laugh and plant themselves even nearer the bike- this may be the most entertaining thing on two wheels to ever pass through this town. So Edson starts the bike once more and I plead with him to just start driving, but he refuses. I am dying thinking we will never leave Hanika this blasted  village and now its dark! So this time I don’t stall– yeaaaaay! Finally such victory (kinda) I have never been so happy to drive away!

And on a side note- women don’t really drive things here. Not bicycles, motos, cars, trucks. There are some beliefs that tie in virginity with driving etc that I don’t fully understand but it’s just not normal for women to drive especially out here in the rural areas. To add to the fact that I’m a woman driving a moto, I’m also white, and driving around with this man on the back of my bike. So I am sure everyone had good reason to stare (and gather round at my stalling episode) but it sure makes me nervous to have everyone watching!

So by the time we finally turn around it is pitch black (if you thought Evergreen was dark with no streetlights you have to see night time here!) and with only a teeny tiny headlight on our bike. The problem with motorcycle headlights I am finding out is that they’re attached to the steering… so as youre coming around the corner you can’t see whats there til you’re turning. I don’t really like that. Anyways I’m trying to navigate these big pot holes and rutts and such in the dark and I deftly avoided running over a giant bullfrog- basically leaving my stalling out mistakes in the dust when the bike starts to sputter…. sputter… sputt…. dies. I didn’t stall it again but we ran out of gas… luckily we we’re able to coast mostly into the village before ours and get a water bottle full of gas (thats how they sell gas– in old water bottles). And we eventually made if safely home.
So basically now I’m trying to stay focused on the positives- like moto lessons with Edson and the crystal lite with caffeine that one of the visitors gifted to me when she left- awesome! and trying to take bumps in the road in stride… only 7 weeks till I head back to the states so lots of work yet to do! Nose to the grindstone….

Trouble shooting and lizard poop… (having trouble loading pics so try on facebook!)

I’ve heard it said that when a person gets pooped on by a bird that its good luck. Well I was on the porch reading and drinking tea last weekend. Enjoying a calm morning when something damp dropped on my arm. I looked and it was a turd. The little geckos poop is a little turd with a white end (I don’t know why it has a white end) but that’s exactly what it was. I jumped up and looked up and there was a little gecko butt overhanging one of the rafters. I’m glad he didn’t poo in my tea and I’m hoping that lizard poo is also good luck.

It might have been good luck because I hiked over to this nature preserve park later that day and found a troop of little monkeys! It had looked like rain so I hadn’t brought my camera though which I was quite sad about. They were all hanging around these avocado trees manging away. Too cute. I continued my hike down to the water and laid down to read a book. The monkeys eventually made their way down there as well and there were 3 little baby monkeys!! I hadn’t seen them before and I think they were hiding in the bushes. But now they were jumping off a picnic table and wrestling around. It was adorable and I have to admit I loved when they misjudged a jump and ended up rolling on the ground.

It turned out to be an eventful day as I met up with a few friends later and one of them was kind enough (brave enough) to start to teach me to drive a moto! Its only a small motorcycle but it was so fun! I was smiling and giggling so much that my sunscreen started to run into my eyes and burn. A vicious cycle because I found that funny too.

So as for the trouble shooting part of the title. Its been almost 2 months since my return and things have been going ok. But of course there are bumps in the road. For the classes at the schools I have some photos to go along with the story. My favorite: So Printing here is difficult and we had alot to print. But paper is also heavy so we couldn’t bring everything with up. We give the students quizzes every week, they have workbooks, and handouts etc. So we tried to compromise and Melissa brought the workbooks from the states and we were going to have the teachers print the quizzes. Well their photocopy machine had no ink and the headmaster was away so they couldn’t buy any new ink. I think I had worn the hospital office staff weary with all my printing requests last term so I wasn’t going to go there. The solution ended up being this ditto machine/printing press contraption that the school uses. You literally pour ink onto this think and wind a handle as it spits out copies. It was awesome and I was so happy the teachers solved the problem (I was near the end of my rope as we were dealing with such crises as ‘Where do I keep the students quizzes?’ and the like)

So we have also been taking students to the health center on ‘field trips’. The purpose is to foster a welcoming friendly atmosphere and encouraging students to seek reproductive health care if they need it. We see alot of young people at the hospital with unintended pregnancy and STIs so we know there is some barrier preventing their accessing care. Alot of times the Doctor/Nurse- patient relationship can be very paternal and scolding so I can understand some reluctance to seek care.

Anywho- we’ve been having a tough time finding times to take the students. We’ve had a couple failed trips where only a couple students showed up. So we’re kinda running out of time in the semester to take all the classes to the health center. Sunday we took two classes totaling 100 students! It was a bit much but surprisingly they are not too rowdy and they do pay attention. It can be a little awkward as most students ask their questions in Kinyarwanda and I still understand very little. It ends up with everyone else in the room reacting before I do. Each session there are several questions when everyone is snickering as people ask questions like… ‘can we practice what we have learned now?’ or ‘What positions are best?’ and the like. I answered the position question very PC I thought ‘There are alot of personal preferences and it should be a discussion between partners’. I was quite smug with that answer and was quickly brought down as a couple students seemed to get a little angry saying I was keeping secrets! Apparently I am the keeper of sex secrets! Who knew? Too bad I can’t get amazon to deliver out here- could just buy a few kama sutras for them or something.

There are other questions and sometimes I’m not sure how to approach them, like ‘can a baby be half beast?’. I wasn’t sure if the student was asking about malformations or some old wives tale of a half cow baby. I ended up talking about chromosomes that a person can’t be half animal because the chromosomes don’t match because I think the student was actually asking about chimera  but I’m not sure. Or questions like ‘how are quadruplets or more made?’ At home the answer is IVF but the student was insisting that he knew someone who had 4 or 5 naturally.

It’s interesting how at every session there are many many questions about infertility/fertility and about having boys vs girls. I think its very culturally driven as fertility is so important here- for many it truly defines a woman. I don’t think that with a group of high school students at home we would get so many many questions on what causes infertility. On a side note when a woman wants her tubes tied or even for regular birth control they almost always need the mans consent.

At the end of each session we teach everyone how to use a condom using these wooden penis models. This is when I wish I could understand Kinyarwanda- apparently a bunch of students were saying that the penis was child sized and we needed a bigger model. Then they were saying that female condoms look like mosquito nets- and they actually do! I just wish I could understand all of this in real time. Instead poor Francine has to translate it all of it.

annnnnd no pics yet bc the internet hates me- hopefully sooooon!

So full you could burst?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4313978.stm

I was browsing bbc trying to stay up to date– so glad we don’t have pythons here- yikes

apparently having eyes bigger than your stomach is not a phenomenon unique to people…

Welcome back. You look fat

It has been an eventful few weeks… I travelled home for Christmas and then made my way back to the western edge of Rwanda. My trip home was great included the happiest New Year/best wedding thanks to the Cahan/Hipps and a new addition to my family, little Maggie!! And of course the traditional gorging on an endless supply of Christmas goodies and spending great time with the family. We also tried to start a new tradition of a Christmas bonfire (don’t tell the Tonawanda Po Po) and also continued our no holds barred Twister tradition, even little Addison got in on the action, though it may be a few years before she takes down Nick or Johnny.

Happiest of New Years

just after the ‘making your height match your size’ comment

From the boat as we’re leaving Shara

Abraham- our bee expert

Happiest of New Years

The visit home was too short, but much needed. I was sad to leave but the business since my return has helped ease the leaving. The travelling out here was one of the worst drives I have ever been on. There were multiple close calls as this bus careened through the wet winding roads in the Nyungue forest. (Close as in I really thought we were all going to die due to the head on collisions we barely missed). Then to make it more exciting two people were heaving out their insides for the whole 6 or so hours. And they were not heaving them to the outside of the vehicle… a nice surprise when I went to pick up my suitcase from near one of their seats. I thought this was terrible until my friend Mary told me she was vomited ON on her last long bus trip. The woman I guess didn’t even apologize- so I’m done complaining and will let anyone vom on my stuff if it means they’re not vomming on me! I told Mary she should have vomited right back on that lady- she said she had no vomit to do so. LOL

So the theme of this post is because for the first week or so everyone, EVERYONE, was saying how fat I looked! It was funny at first but then became a little tiresome. ‘You look fat, what have you eaten?’ ‘You are big’ You are fat, it is good’. Daniel was taking a picture of Melissa and I and was kneeling down on the ground pointing the camera up all weird like. In response to our ‘what the crap dude stand up’ he said he was trying to make us look taller to match our size! That was the last straw. So the next time the headmaster told me I looked fat I told him that American women would cry at home if you called them fat. “Oh!! No!” was his distressed response. Apparently it’s a compliment here- but its tough to mentally replace ‘fat’ with ‘good’ though I’ve tried (thanks to the American media hahahaha) So I’ve now started telling everyone that says it that they look fat too. It is really funny (to me only).

just after the 'making your height match your size' comment

Anywho Lisa and Melissa were here when I arrived and Melissa really got things going at the school. Now the classes are to run by the teachers there thanks to a great training week by Melissa. As part of the class the students will be taught the proper use of condoms (though we’re not allowed to give them out at the school- long story). The health centers here all have these penis models that they use for such trainings. So Melissa decides that we need some penis models of our own. Well this quickly led to the most awkward situation I have thus far been privy to here. The compound I live in has a garage and woodworking shop fully staffed by handy guys so Melissa and I went and asked them in broken English-French-Kinyarwanda to make us two penis models (FOR TEACHING THE USE OF CONDOMS). This was followed by a 40 something year old man breaking into uncontrolled giggles. Seriously- he couldn’t stop. Probably two white girls standing there with a model of a penis was quite a comical picture- so I understand. Anyways- he carved two teaching models in like a day and half! Not sure if pictures are appropriate…  but it was good work

On top of being busy running around for the classes and various other projects Melissa and I went bee keeping with the hospital secretary, Abraham. It was scarier than I thought. It’s really unnerving to have them all buzzing around, landing on your face net thing, and Abraham wasn’t exactly a calming force… “SMOKE SMOKE SMOKE SMOKE!” he kept repeating when a whole bunch would swarm. After they dispersed a little “It is sufficient” was his signal that we could stop pumping the smoke can. I had asked him if these were African killer bees (as a joke?) his response in the affirmative I was hoping was a language issue until a guy told me today that bees killed two goats! And its not a language issue because he’s from New York and lives here in Rwanda- EIK!

Abraham- our bee expert

The work at the hospital has been a little rough lately. Some really sick patients and some really sad cases. I’ve almost lost it a few times.

Staying busy helps and with all the projects going on there is no end in sight 🙂

From the boat as we're leaving Shara

There have been a few other really fun times since being back though … Melissa and I went to Shara health post one day and despite the looming rain clouds it ended up being an awesome trip. We had some work to do at the post and then we decided to try to take a boat back to the hospital since Shara is basically a peninsula. It was more of a hike to where the boats were than I expected and as we made our way we were surrounded by an ever increasing number of kids. Given the limited communication, I started doing little vocab- like repeat after me ‘umuhungu, boy… umukobwa, girl’ then the kids started singing and running so we ran with them. It was so fun. There were probably 80-100 kids. It was awesome. They stayed with us the entire way to the shore. I can’t think of a better time since I’ve been here.

*Photo Credits to Melissa! I failed and didn’t bring my camera to the bees or to Shara– thanks M

Photo update

So I have definnitely been slacking with posting updates- but here are a few pics with accompanying stories to come. After a wonderful visit home (including a continuation of the no holds barred twister tourney and a new addition to the family!) I made my journey back and had some more adventures… I learned how to bee keep, did fake karate with some kids, took a nice boat ride, and learned to appreciate a weed wacker over a machete—

“Are these African killer bees?” Abraham responds “Yes”… smoke smoke smoke smoke smoke! it is sufficient

karate

learning how to do lawn work

Notes on Food

So much of the food here is truly delicious. I’m assuming alot has to do with how fresh it is and probably not my preparative efforts… I eat avocados carrots, tomatoes, peppers all the day they are plucked from the earth!  (Thoroughly washed of course– especially in light of the small cholera epidemic that was going around)

And mango season is coming up so I am very excited! Interestingly avocados are considered poor people’s food here because they literally grow on the trees and fall down for who ever might want them. They are about 12 cents each (for those without a tree like me) but in NYC I almost never buy them because I’m too cheap.

I have also learned to make some new fresh baked good type things… chapata, tortillas, and crackers. My friend Mary taught me how to make chapata: it is like a thicker tortilla but flaky. I just adapted that recipe she gave me to make tortillas because I use less oil and they’re easier. One of my favorite meals is rice, tomatoes and avocado all wrapped up in a fresh tortilla. Yum.

The one thing that I’m lacking though has been snacks. What I would give for some humus! I find myself missing the little fruit cups Gramps insisted on sending to me (and the hot cocoa on those cold rainy nights!) The crackers helped but I somehow can’t avoid making them super crunchy (and by crunchy I mean living on the edge possibly dangerous to your teeth). but there’s garlic, rosemary and salt so they taste good… just fine tuning the texture…

My latest innovation (not an innovation but one for me) was to carmalize up some peanuts. I’m going to give them as little Christmas gifts for my friends here, but I just wish I had some cinnamon to add to the top. Its really hard to believe it is December already. Time has gone by really fast and everytime my mom mentions snow in an email I feel like I am on another planet. It was like 80 degrees here today.

So that’s the update on my cooking… I did consider buying a chicken and killing it and cooking it for Thanksgiving but I didn’t have the cajones. Though I’m sure it would have made for some good pictures…

Memorial Museum

Statues symbolizing the stages of Rwandan history

While I was in Kigali I took one day to visit the Genocide Memorial. It is a museum but also serves as a mass grave for over 250,000 people and as a memorial for all those people lost. It was a sobering visit to say the very least. It is so difficult to imagine the terror and horror that people experienced during that time. The site as a whole is very contrasting. The grounds outside the museum are quiet and peaceful. There are large gardens; many rose gardens with all varieties of roses that symbolize all the unique lives that were lost. Then there are gardens that have plants important in Rwandan culture and these are layed out in such a way to represent the history of the Rwandan people. Outside the museum there are also the mass graves. Bodies are still being placed here as remains are still discovered in remote areas or in new mass graves that are uncovered. The beauty of the grounds contrasts sharply with what caused the site to be built.

Inside the museum there are three separate exhibits. The first was about the Rwandan genocide, the second about different genocides through history, and the last is dedicated to the child victims of the Rwandan genocide. It was a very interesting experience but I left the museum in tears. It was difficult to face the horrors, even if only in words/ photos /video, that people are capable of. The second exhibit really drove home the point that although the events of ’94 were tragic genocide is a recurring problem and not unique to this situation. It made me think of those famous psych experiments… the stanford prison and the milgram studies… and really what is wrong with people? What really motivates such acts? The brutality of the events were recounted by survivors. People were raped, were beaten with clubs, hacked with machetes, killed with sticks with nails on the end. How could regular people do such things?

The exhibit dedicated to the lost children is what I really could not handle. I didn’t even make it through the first room before tears were rolling down my face. There were big pictures of the child with a small description of their favorite foods or activities.It really makes you wonder what is wrong with people.

There was a small display about heroes of the genocide. People that risked their lives to save friends, neighbors, or even strangers. It felt like a small consolation compared to the magnitude of loss.

from the rose garden

Stained glass window- the stairs ascending into the light represents hope for the future

This woman hid people in ditches in her fields. When people came searching for them she threatened cursing them and acted up her reputation as a crazy natural healer

entrance to the burial sites

'If you knew me and you really knew yourself you never would have killed me'